FDA Approves Low-Level Electrical Pulse Forehead Patch to Be Worn by Children Ages 7-12 with ADHD While They Are Sleeping

Parents with children who have ADHD have my sympathy. Therapy takes a long time and doesn’t always work. It’s also not cheap. Dietary changes aren’t easy to implement. Drugs don’t always work and they aren’t necessarily cheap either. Drugs can also have horrible side effects. So there’s a new treatment that the FDA recently approved for kids ages 7-12 with ADHD: an electrical pulse patch to wear on their foreheads while they sleep.

Of course, putting an electrical pulse patch on a child’s forehead while they sleep and without medical assistance or supervision seems risky even before reading the warning:

The device should not be placed near a phone or used by children on an insulin pump, pacemaker or implanted neurostimulator, the FDA said.

This may be due to the possibility of Electromagnetic Interference (EMI) which could do all kinds of damage to the child and/or any nearby digital, electronic, or wireless devices – medical or otherwise. With the way adults and children constantly use their phones and other devices – I can’t be the only one anticipating a lot of very sad news stories about kids with burned foreheads and worse.

According to the article, “The FDA found no serious adverse events associated with eTNS” even though it was noted that some of the trial kids experienced drowsiness, an increase in appetite, trouble sleeping, teeth clenching, headache and fatigue.

So drowsiness, an increase in appetite, trouble sleeping, teeth clenching, headache and fatigue aren’t to be taken seriously.

Of course, the FDA is well known for having embarrassingly bad judgment. They’ve even been accused of playing a substantial role in causing the Opioid Crisis. Activist Post has covered other wacky FDA decisions before too. (See 1, 2)

Anyone who has ever used a TENS unit knows that patches can be worn on the forehead to effectively reduce pain and inflammation. TENS units have also been known to burn and shock users too. Sometimes the user can anticipate when this might happen and reduce the pulse strength to avoid it. But these ADHD-reducing patches are to be worn by sleeping children. Again – I can’t be the only one anticipating a lot of very sad news stories about kids with burned foreheads and worse.